1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for conditioning air in an automotive vehicle and, more particularly, to an air-conditioning apparatus for an automotive vehicle, which is provided with a swinging louver at its air outlet for blowing air into the vehicle compartment.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, there is known an air-conditioning apparatus for automotive vehicles and other vehicles, which has a swinging louver disposed at its air outlet so as to be swinging in a reciprocating way and changing the directions of air in a periodic way. Thus, this swinging louver can provide the passenger or passengers with a pleasant feeling of swaying air.
Japanese Patent Publication (kokoku) No. 48,621/1987 discloses an air-conditioning apparatus with such a swinging louver which is so arranged as to swing the swinging louver in accordance with the magnitude of the difference between a manually set compartment temperature required and an actual compartment temperature.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 57,018/1984 discloses an air-conditioning apparatus with a swinging louver so arranged as to swing the swinging louver in accordance with the quantity of blown air, i.e. a speed of the rotation of a blower.
Further, Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 81,411/1986 discloses a swinging louver so arranged as to start swinging when a manual switch is turned on and as to stop swinging when the manual switch is turned off. This swinging louver is arranged for its operation speed to be altered in accordance with the quantity of air-conditioning wind. More specifically, this system is arranged for the cycle of changes in the direction of air to be set shorter when a larger quantity of air is required to be supplied, for example, at the time when starting the air-conditioning operation because the air-conditioning state within the vehicle compartment is largely remote from the desired set temperature. This arrangement allows the passenger or passengers to get a wind directly from the air outlets of the air-conditioning apparatus at a higher frequency, thereby alleviating an unpleasant feeling to some extent.
However, in a conventional way of controlling the swinging louver, the operation of the swinging louver is started or suspended in accordance with the quantity of air-conditioning wind, the state of controlling air conditioning, etc. Hence, the direction in which the air is to be blown from the air outlet always varies with the timing at which the operation of the swinging louver is suspended. In other words, when the swinging louver suspends its swinging operation, there is no promise of the direction in which the air-conditioning wind is blown from the air-conditioning apparatus when the air-conditioning resumes because the directions of blowing the air are defined by the swinging louver which is disclosed at the air outlet of the air-conditioning apparatus at the time when the operation of the swinging louver is suspended. Accordingly, the conventional air-conditioning apparatus suffers from the difficulty that the passenger is required to adjust the direction of the swinging louver to direct the air-conditioning wind to a desired direction, whenever the swinging operation of the swinging louver is to be resumed.